Your top 3 education-ish places to visit?

[egao_gakari]

I grew up homeschooled but we rarely traveled or did field trips due to finances and poor organizational skills... and sadly we are repeating the same pattern with our 2 😬 our friend who has five kids and a shoestring budget takes them on big ol' road trips 2-3 times per year and they always make one education-adjacent stop. I'm trying to think of good places to take the kids to in our last couple years before college. Could be places of historical interest, scientific interest, or just kinda cool/unique/memorable spots. Here are three that I've never been to, but would love to go:

1. Saint Augustine
2. One of the national parks out west, like Zion or Yellowstone
3. Montreal

And three that we've actually made it to and would recommend to others:

1. Kayaking with manatees (Kings Cove, FL)
2. Mark Twain's house (Hartford, CT)
3. Newport, RI (mansions, Cliff Walk, Black Ships Festival, Audrain Auto Museum)

I'd especially love recommendations of places less well known, more likely to have local visitors than out-of-state tourists!

[Slache]

Locally:

1. Washington On The Brazos
2. Big Bend
3. King Ranch

Nationally:

1. DC
2. Williamsburg
3. Grand Canyon and Yosemite

Internationally:

1. Rome
2. Israel
3. Australia

ETA: Our favorites so far: A drive from Portland to San Antonio via LA, New Orleans, DC, hiking in the Columbia River Gorge, missions, Crater Lake, Fort Martin Scott and Fredericksburg.

ETA2: I need to go kayaking with manatees now.

Edited June 11, 2021 by Slache

[Slache]

Honestly, one of the most educational things we've ever done is go on a walk at the trail right by our house several times a week. Seeing how the rain affected the river, seeing how the insects change throughout the year, learning the birds and their calls, learning how the temperature feels different based on conditions, watching the workers maintain the parks, seeing lightning kill a tree and watching it decompose, watching garbage not decompose, mold, leaves, water insects, wildlife, clouds. We saw it all and we watched it truly exist. One of the best things we've ever done.

[2_girls_mommy]

Our biggest trips so far were Washington D.C. and another to Boston.  Once we drove almost cross country, one we flew to.  On the drive, we stopped at several stops along the way too across the country.  When around D.C. we also went to Mount Vernon for a day, and that really stuck with us all.  In Boston we did the Freedom Trail over a couple of days and toured Harvard, and just saw as much as we could. 

For smaller trips, we do lots of nature reserves in whatever we are going to, but especially ones that are within a day of our house that we can go to once a year or more to see in different times of the year.  In New Mexico we really liked Bandalier National Monument.  We just love history anywhere we go.  We do art museums wherever we can, see the changing exhibits in our area.

Also, we don't live anywhere near the ocean, so we have driven twice to take the kids to the nearest beach (and saw the reserves and such while there.) 

So our three so far have been 

1. History sites (Bandalier, Boston, D.C, whatever is around and available...)

2. art museums and history museums wherever you can, living history when possible.

3. The ocean, lakes, nature reserves of all kinds.

Edited June 11, 2021 by 2_girls_mommy

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

We are incredibly fortunate to be in a position where we will eventually be able to travel pretty frequently. It’s taken a long time & a lot of work to get there, but we’re really looking forward to it! 

I’m going to steal @Slache’s format above. 

In-State

1. Dallas World Aquarium. We plan to visit next month since DS is currently studying marine biology! 
2. Moody Gardens Galveston. This has a trio of massive pyramid-shaped buildings: an aquarium, a rainforest habitat (with butterfly enclosure), & a STEM discovery center. I hope to plan a weekend trip at some point to stay on-site so we’ll have time to do all three! 3. Big Bend National Park. This is going to be one looooong road trip, so we’ll probably plan to go when we can camp for several nights. I’d love to go in early spring to see the wildflowers bloom & do some stargazing! 

Nationally

1. Washington D.C. There is such an incredible amount of history here; so many museums / exhibits & the majority don’t even cost!
2. New York City, NY. Particularly Ellis Island & I’d love to see a show on Broadway! 
3. Yellowstone National Park. We hope to see many more parks, but if we had to choose just one it’d be Yellowstone. 

Internationally

1. Rome, Italy. We were all set to go on a 2wk vacation here. Hotel with a view of the coliseum. Gladiator training. Cooking classes. Then we found out we’d be moving back Stateside with only a month’s notice & had to cancel everything. 😭  
2. Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. This is the one place would professors weren’t able to work into the college trip I took. An incredible destination for studying high-level biology; especially evolutionary biology &/or zoology. 
3. Chiang Mai, Thailand. I would love to be present for the Spring Lantern Festival, &then take a sleeper train to the Elephant Nature Park in Kuet Chang which is regarded as a premier global elephant rescue / retirement sites. It is only for observing; the elephants do not “perform” & are not ridden. 

[2_girls_mommy]

Oh, here are my three for this upcoming year: 

1.Medieval Times Restaurant.  Not a lifetime top, lol, but we are excited to do it for a medieval year. 

2. The big Aquararium and Zoo in Atlanta, whatever the name of that one is.  That is going to be mdd's senior trip.  She has always wanted to go there.  My sister may end up flying her there, so if she does that, I won't get to go, but if we do a road trip, we will all go. 

3. Our biggest in state aquarium.  This is because we might not all get to do the senior trip, so we are planning this aquarium so that ydd has a chance to pet sharks and stingrays too! 

Those plus a weekend camping with my grandparents by their little state park lake and seeing the wildlife there like we do most autumns, and seeing the upcoming Pompeii exhibit in our art museum, plus whatever field trips co-op has planned are our big ones in the next 12 months. 

 

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

34 minutes ago, 2_girls_mommy said:

Medieval Times Restaurant.  Not a lifetime top, lol, but we are excited to do it for a medieval year. 

We’re in the midst of the Middle Ages & are going to Medieval Times next week! Such a fun experience! ⚔️🛡👑 

[theelfqueen]

We did a big roadtrip through Utah and down to the Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest the year we studied Geology. 

When we did British History we did 3 weeks in the UK and Ireland. 

We did Yellowstone - it is amazing and everyone should see it! 

[Clemsondana]

We did a big trip to Hawaii - saved miles and hotel points for years for that one - and saw a lot of cool nature and history.  We lived in Albuquerque for years and spouse often travels there for work so we have been several times since the kids were older - they have several great museums, plus Bandelier, Jemez, petroglyps, El Morro and El Malpais (the last 3 are hikes).  We did a trip to DC several years ago (right around New Years was cheap because Congress isn't in session - there were no crowds at all - the supreme court tour and library of congress were surprise favorites).  We have been to Chicago - museums, a neat architecture boat tour, and a 'big city' experience for the kids, plus the American Doll store for the girl and a Cubs game for the boy.  A surprising favorite was a road trip in TN - in Memphis we saw the civil rights museum, a music museum, Graceland, live music on Beale Street, Mud Island and a boat ride on the Mississippi.  We then went to Nashville and saw the Parthenon (a full size replica of the real thing, with an art museum inside), the Hermitage, a museum and site about a mound-building tribe, and then fun at the water park at Gaylord.  We went to Austin when the kids were little and husband had a conference (and we were visiting friends) - there were lots of little museums and some hiking - the dinosaur skulls at UT-Austin were neat.  We've road-tripped to Chattanooga (Ruby Falls, Rock City, a kids museum and a great aquarium) and Atlanta (Stone Mountain, the aquarium - there's more but we were going to a ball game and had limited time).  We did a day trip to Biltmore.  We've seen most of the local stuff in Knoxville - the Museum of Appalachia is cool, and there's a little museum nearby that has pioneer and Native American artifacts, and a tiny museum at UT-Knoxville, and a couple of local caves and a dairy complete with bottling plant, and we've also seen the full-size replicas of the Nina and Pinta when they sailed up the TN and a Landing Ship Tank (the ships used in WW2 - there's only 1 functioning one left) when it sailed near us.  We've seen a military ship while at the beach and military helicopters when they do local demos.  

Husband says that my claim to fame is that we can look at anywhere that we are going to be and I can put together a list of quirky things to do and find some local diners to eat at.  When we moved from NM to TN I planned a week long road trip for us (I had a K-er and a 2yo).  It was great - little museums and overlooks, and a fun few days in Fredericksburg, TX - they have some cool hikes and a museum about WWII based on Nimitz, who was local.  i also like to try different foods with the kids when we visit places - German food in Fredericksburg, Afghan food in DC, etc.  We have several more trips that we want to do and we can't find long enough blocks of time that don't have ball practice of some sort for one or the other of the kids, so I've started trying to loop in something even if we're only going a short distance to play ball - a college campus, a local historic site, a quirky restaurant.  

Edited to add - I totally didn't answer what you were asking exactly...I'm in a motel room with a kid for a karate competition tomorrow.  We're not too far from home but as we drove I saw a sign for a big dam and told kiddo that next time we were down this way as a family we should loop by there because we've never done that before.  My kids complain but I think they secretly enjoy my need to tack on educational outings...

Edited June 12, 2021 by Clemsondana

[madteaparty]

I can’t pick 3 😞

China was definitely an education. But so was Paris, a slightly gentler one. Live abord boat in Indonesia into Komodo national park. Jordan. 

Closer to home, 
corning museum of glass in upstate NY is amazing. And there’s an octopus at Monterey bay acquarium I could spend all day watching. 

[HomeAgain]

Some of our best field trips:
Verona, Italy  3 years later when ds studied Romeo & Juliet for real, he had a great mental picture

Washington, D.C.  There is so much to see there, and it's always changing. 

The Historic Triangle in VA (Jamestown, Yorktown, Williamsburg)

 

On the list still:

Philadelphia, Gettysburg, and the rest of PA

Mark Twain's house (thank you for mentioning that, @egao_gakari!

San Francisco: Alcatraz, The Exploratorium, and a few haunts from dh's and my time there.

 

 

To be fair, though, we've taken our kids everywhere, and the field trips that were always the best were the ones we were prepared for.  Jamestown was fascinating because we read Blood On The River.  The Norman Rockwell museum was brilliant because we had done an artist study.  The Peabody-Essex gave insight into world-trade and history topics studied in SOTW vol. 3.  Graceland gave context to the oldest (and connected Lilo & Stitch for the youngest!).  The Appalachian museum fell into our studies from 1800-1900s rural America.

One of my favorite memories is when the oldest, around age 16, and I ended up watching an episode of Arthur together.  It was put on for the preschoolers and they had no interest, but he and I were worn out and sat there.  The kids were all moaning and groaning about how they're in this "booooring" museum and how much it sucks.  At that point, DS turned to me and said, "I'm glad you never took me to any museums like that!"

I was dumbfounded.  Not only did I take him to EVERY museum that we could go to, I took him to the exact museum in the cartoon! 🤣 He came back with, "Yeah, but that was different!  They were interesting and fun!"

So, for us, our top educational sites are what we can connect with and make relevant.  🙂

 

 

[LinRTX]

We have done D.C. several times because of relatives in the area, but right now this has to be planned far in advance. My daughter is in the area for the summer for an internship. You must have tickets for everything. And there are none available for the rest of the summer. 

[madteaparty]

1 minute ago, LinRTX said:

We have done D.C. several times because of relatives in the area, but right now this has to be planned far in advance. My daughter is in the area for the summer for an internship. You must have tickets for everything. And there are none available for the rest of the summer. 

Ooh, in DC the money thing, where you take a tour of the paper $ printing was fun. 

[HomeAgain]

Okay, some off the beaten path type places we've done:

The German POW nativity in Algona, IA: https://mojotraveler.com/german-pow-nativity-in-iowa/

The Henry-Doorly Zoo in Omaha, NE: https://www.omahazoo.com/

Laura Ingalls Wilder's house in Mansfield, MO: https://lauraingallswilderhome.com/

Shaker Farm (I think there are two, one in MA, one in ME).  This is particularly good if you read the Dear America book about the 1918 pandemic: https://hancockshakervillage.org/

The Whaling Museum in New Bedford, MA.  Read Moby Dick, at least the first few chapters, and you can see the places described as well. There's also a child's diary online about her time on her father's whaling ship.

Fort _______ (Insert your most local historical fort here).  We've done several now.

A potato chip factory, with the coffee roaster close behind it.  Both of these places offered tours on their websites and we were able to schedule private-ish tours.  Meaning, they were public, but either we were the only ones who showed or it was set up to be self-touring.

 

[Dmmetler]

Some of the best for us (and that I haven’t seen listed):

 

New Orleans-Aquarium, Zoo, and Insectarium (and lots of historic stuff. Mardi Gras world and the behind the scenes float construction tour is also really good). We also visited a tiny Voodoo museum which was really neat.

 

The Kentucky Reptile Zoo in Slade Kentucky. KRZ is a venom production and research facility, but also is a great place to talk to the folks and learn about the animals. They also have one of the best animal adoption programs anywhere, where you can actually visit your specific snake or lizard. 
 

Gatorland in Orlando. They have an amazing trainer for the day program, where you come in before the park is open and get to meet, feed, and care for many of the animals, and it is about the safest way to see alligators being alligators. The folks there have a real passion for the animals and their care. 

[lmrich]

DC is a must for your homeschool days. 

I think it is important to visit state and national parks and just soak in whatever is there. 

Budget buster - Rome

Visit art museums, zoos, aquariums, etc.. many cities off city passes or if you purchase a zoo pass to your zoo it is often transferable to other zoos. Getting a membership is a great way to go often and notice the changes.

[egao_gakari]

Wow, I love all these ideas, there are so many places I've never even heard of!!!

Last year we got a groupon for a yearlong family membership to a botanical garden. It had arrangements so we could get in to some other gardens within driving distance using the same membership. We used the membership a grand total of.... once. I think I am just disorganized 😛 

[HomeAgain]

19 minutes ago, egao_gakari said:

Wow, I love all these ideas, there are so many places I've never even heard of!!!

Last year we got a groupon for a yearlong family membership to a botanical garden. It had arrangements so we could get in to some other gardens within driving distance using the same membership. We used the membership a grand total of.... once. I think I am just disorganized 😛 

Not this year, but in normal years our library systems have passes to check out for museums and historical sites.  A lot of times they're 50% off, but some are free admission for x number of people.  I'm not sure if you guys have something like that, but when we're not always keen on doing the Free Fridays during the summer (too much traffic!), I know we can plan for these better. Our old home used to do seemingly random free days at different places.  It was like one would do a once a month Thursday, another was free if you brought kids, another did an open house once a year...I would just look up what was going on that month to figure out what we really wanted to do.  I like the library passes much better, though.  No planning.  Just reserve and pick up on your way out.

 

[2_girls_mommy]

On 6/11/2021 at 6:21 PM, Shoes+Ships+SealingWax said:

We’re in the midst of the Middle Ages & are going to Medieval Times next week! Such a fun experience! ⚔️🛡👑 

I can't wait.  I talked to them on the phone about their educational shows for the coming year.  Sounds like they didn't fare well during the pandemic, so they are looking forward to booking more this year.  Have so much fun! I know I loved it when I went a long time ago!

[eternallytired]

On 6/11/2021 at 7:42 PM, Clemsondana said:

We did a trip to DC several years ago (right around New Years was cheap because Congress isn't in session - there were no crowds at all - the supreme court tour and library of congress were surprise favorites). 

Ugh.  I wish we'd been able to go to DC in the off-season.  We went in Summer 2019 because we were meeting up with family and not everyone homeschools.  What my kids remember most is that it was SO hot and we had to stand in long lines for everything.  If you can manage to go in the spring or fall when the weather is pleasant but schools aren't out yet, you'll probably enjoy it way more.  The LoC is definitely gorgeous, and I still remember getting to see the Supreme Court in session when I was in high school.  (I remember being shocked that the SC justices were twisting in their swivel chairs and whispering to each other just like any other restless human being would do if they had to sit and listen to hours of legal arguments.)  We also toured both Mount Vernon and Monticello (when I was in high school and recently), both of which were really interesting.

My favorite national park is probably Yosemite (and Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Sierra are all relatively near there).  My family did a very memorable train trip to California when I was 14 (Amtrak through Colorado is awe-inspiring), and we visited the national parks and saw San Francisco.  I'd love to do that trip with my kids.

I'm not sure what my third trip would be...

[Slache]

I lived in DC for a year and recommend going in Winter because it's most beautiful after dark. It will be very cold, but stunning.

Edited June 16, 2021 by Slache

[AnneGG]

I loved Colonial Williamsburg as a kid. I begged to go every year.  
 

Any sort of factory, particularly one involving food. 😆 

Glass-bottomed boat tour and/or scuba diving. 
 

Photography studio that develops their own film. 
 

We are going on a scenic railroad tour in the fall. I’m super excited about it. Relaxing for me, exciting adventure for the kid. 

Edited June 16, 2021 by AnneGG